Never really been that much of a fan of article directories.

As others have already mentioned on this thread; you need good quality content.

Look around on sites like Digg/StumbleUpon and see what each community likes. One of my blogs made the front page of Digg and StumbleUpon buzz a few times. You need to spend time creating quality content, then you'll get links and traffic fairly easily.

These articles take longer to write but are worth it in the long run. You'll only need to submit one or 2 of your articles then you'll find that other people start submitting them for you. Guest posts are also a good way of getting traffic, and more importantly, building up relationships with other bloggers.